Bourré Rules

Bourré is not poker: no poker hands are made. It is a trick-taking game played for a pot, and it is a common dealer's-choice or side game in poker groups in Louisiana and the southern United States. The name is also written Boo-Ray.

Two to eight players may take part. Seven is often considered the best number.

A standard 52-card deck is used with no jokers. In each suit, cards rank from ace (high) down to two (low).

The object of each deal is to win more tricks than any other player, and above all to avoid taking no tricks at all.

The game descends from a French three-card game of south-west France, and the word bourré was the French term for a player who took no tricks. Its roots are sometimes traced further to the Spanish game Burro.

Before each deal, each player who must ante puts one chip (or another agreed unit) into the pot. Players who paid for being bourréd on the previous deal, and players who tied for most tricks, do not ante (see article 5).

The dealer deals five cards face down to each player, one at a time, clockwise from the dealer's left, except that the dealer's own fifth and last card is dealt face up.

The suit of the dealer's face-up card is trumps for the deal. The card belongs to the dealer's hand.

Beginning with the player to the dealer's left and going clockwise, each player announces whether they will play or pass.

A player who passes puts their cards aside and neither wins nor loses anything further on that deal.

If the trump card is an ace, the dealer shall play.

Each player who plays may then discard any number of cards from none to five, face down, and the dealer replaces them from the undealt stock, in the same clockwise order.

If the stock runs out, the dealer gathers the discards and the passed hands, shuffles them and continues the draw from them.

If only one player chooses to play, that player takes the whole pot without playing the tricks and need not show their cards.

The first active player to the dealer's left leads to the first trick. The winner of each trick leads to the next. Five tricks are played.

Each player, in turn, shall play according to these obligations:

4.2(a) a player who holds a card of the suit led shall follow suit;

4.2(b) a player who cannot follow suit shall play a trump if they have one;

4.2(c) within those limits, a player shall play a card that beats the highest card so far played to the trick, if they can.

A player who can follow suit but cannot beat the highest card (for example because the trick has already been trumped) may play any card of the suit led. There is no duty to play a high card that cannot win.

A trick is won by the highest trump played to it or, if it contains no trump, by the highest card of the suit led.

The cinch. A player who is certain to take at least three tricks, whatever the other players hold, has a cinch. When leading, such a player shall lead their highest trump; when not leading, they shall play their highest trump if the rules allow it. This stops a player with a certain win from deliberately leaving another player bourréd.

The player who takes the most tricks wins the whole pot. Three tricks always win. Two tricks also win if no one else takes more than one.

A player who played but took no tricks is bourréd. They shall pay into the next pot an amount equal to the whole pot as it stood for this deal. A bourréd player does not ante on the next deal.

Split pot. If two players tie for the most tricks (for example 2-2-1), no one takes the pot. It stays in the middle for the next deal, together with any payments from bourréd players. The players who tied do not ante on the next deal.

Reneges. Failing to follow suit, trump or beat the highest card when required is a renege. A renege not corrected before the next player plays costs the offender an amount equal to the pot. A renege corrected at once carries no payment, but the offender may not win the pot on that deal and loses their next deal, and still pays if they end up bourréd.